Give Mercy, Angel of Fate
by Ice Jazz Elleth
Summary: Jasper's story, starting from his transformation. But just who is the angel of fate... or death? I'm no good with introductions, it should honestly be better than this summery. Thanks for reading.
1. A New Life

_If you wake at Midnight, and hear a horse's feet,  
__Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,  
__Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie,  
__Watch the wall my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!_

A Smuggler's Song  
By Rudyard Kipling

I watched as the woman and children walked drearily on. I was at the head of the column, ridding on my horse. We had finally reached Houston; it had taken a day for the woman and children to prepare for this journey. It was dark, and I only had the torches at the gate with which to watch the passers-by. Dusk had fallen long ago on our trip, travelling had not been easy. It was a large amount of people travelling a day's journey and the people weren't men. It wasn't easy for them and we had to have a few stops on the way.

I was wearing my uniform, a Major's uniform. I was the youngest major in Texas and it was my duty to see these people to safety. It had been a hot day and the night was humid. Not a single person could show their joy at getting to their destination. They were all too tired, I was the only one who had a horse and that was only because of my position in the army. I wanted to get back moving, to do something but I was bound to make sure that everyone was safely situated. I watched as the people found places to rest, while still more poured in.

My horse was sweating, it had been a long journey for the horse, perhaps longer, since I had galloped back and forth, keeping everything in order. I patted the horse's neck, which was drooping down. _When everyone is safe, I'll get a fresh horse and then go back to Galveston, keep an eye out for stragglers. _I decided, I hadn't eaten since breakfast and wasn't really hungry or tired, we all were used to this, in the army. There wasn't time to rest or eat in times of trouble. Like this. Finally, the last person came in; I watched as they found a safe place and settled down. I dismounted and walked carefully to the stables. I nodded to those who said _thank you_ their tones where grateful.

Soon, I came to the stables; I got a fresh horse and set back off to Galveston. The ground was barren and rocky. The sky was clear, the stars shone bright, as did the moon. I was used to the movements of the horse, it was always rough outside. I spotted three figures just as I was about one mile outside the city. _Stragglers. _I thought to myself. I made my way towards them; they were three women, all walking on foot. I dismounted to offer them my aid immediately. But as the moonlight lit them up, I knew that they weren't stragglers.

These three women were exceptionally beautiful, if they had been part of party, I would have remembered them. They were young enough to be called girls. They had pale skin, almost white; it glowed in the darkness like marble. The little black haired girl had Mexican features, yet she was as pale as porcelain in the dim moonlight. The tallest girl had fair blonde hair and her skin was as white as snow. The other was even blonder and her skin took on the same tone as the tallest girl.

"He's speechless," said the tall girl, her voice like wind chimes, so lovely and delicate. I saw the other blonde girl learn towards me with half closed eyes, inhaling.

"Mmm" I heard her sigh. "Lovely."

The youngest one, the Mexican one, put her hand on the girl's arm and spoke quickly, in a soft musical tone, which seemed to be intended as sharp.

"Concentrate, Nettie" the youngest said. I knew that this girl was in charge, if it had been a military group, I would have said she out ranked them. I always know people's relations with others.

"He looks right- young, strong, an officer..." The Mexican girl paused, and I tried to speak, but I was unsuccessful. "And there's something more..." she continued. "Do you sense it? He's... compelling."

"Oh yes." the girl called Nettie agreed, quickly, again leaning towards me.

"Patience." I heard the Mexican caution Nettie. "I want to keep this one."

I saw Nettie frown, she was annoyed. The taller blonde one then spoke;

"You'd better do it, Maria, if he's important to you. I kill them twice as often as keep them." she said.

"Yes, I'll do it." The one called Maria agreed. "I really do like this one. Take Nettie away, will you? I don't want to have to protect my back while I'm trying to focus."

I could feel the hair on the back of my neck standing up, even though I did not understand what these beautiful girls were talking about. Deep down, my instincts told me that something was wrong, that the girl had meant it when she had talked of killing me. But I had been taught well and my judgement won, I had never been taught to fear woman, only to protect them.

"Let's hunt," The one called Nettie agreed her voice enthusiastic. She reached for the tall girl's hand and the two ran off. They looked like ghosts with their white dresses bellowing out behind them and their pale complexion. They moved faster than the eye can see. I turned my attention back to Maria, who bore a curious expression on her face as she watched me.

Suddenly, I felt as if ghosts and other such superstitions were real. It was possible that they could exist. It was a weird feeling to feel come upon you.

"What is your name, soldier?" I heard the one called Maria ask me.

"Major Jasper Whitlock, Ma'am," I said, although it came out as a stammer. I couldn't be impolite to a woman, even if she was a ghost.

"I truly hope you survive, Jasper," she told me in her gentle voice. "I have a good feeling about you." Maria took a step closer to me and inclined her head as if she were going to kiss me. I still stood frozen in my place, even though everything inside me was saying _"Run!"_

She came closer and put her lips to my neck. I felt a sharp prick and blood flowed over my neck, warm, and her teeth sank in deeper. They delved deeper into my throat and then the pain started. It felt like I was being tortured by a red hot iron. The pain or fire spread down the rest of my body. It was more pain than I could cope with. I had never known so much pain in my entire life. I thought I was prepared to take on as much pain as possible but this was more. I screamed in pain but I had no idea if my voice worked. It was too much. My surroundings died. I was no longer aware of anything around me. Only this burning pain as if I were on fire. I screamed to my captor to put it out. But she appeared deaf to my cries. She was no ghost but a devil. Yet still the pain went on, searing along my veins. I stopped shouting. It was doing nothing. I tried to put my effort to a more convenient action, like trying to figure out where I was.

However I could concentrate on nothing more but the pain that infected my body and burned it to a crisp. I only just managed to focus on the sounds that went around me. They three girls were talking.

"Well done, Maria." said the one whose voice matched the tall girl's. "You managed well with this one. I don't think it will be much longer for him."

"Have you found any that might be good?" asked Maria.

"We feed on the last humans we saw. They weren't what you were after. Are you sure we need to be so fussy?" asked Nettie, her voice was soft but seemed to be a little harsh.

"We need to take care and consider everything. We want a strong and powerful army. Not those who can't fight and have no powers." Maria argued.

"How do you know if powers are true? We haven't see any, have we Lucy." Nettie said.

"There have only been tales." Lucy said.

"But I'm sure you have heard of Aro! He can know your every thought just by having contact with you." Maria said.

"The Volturi are powerful. How do we know that isn't a rumour spread around to keep us in order?" asked Lucy.

"Don't you have better things to do at the moment?" asked Nettie.

"Like explaining to our soldier what is happening? It's been two days and he hasn't screamed for ten hours." Lucy added.

_Ten Hours? Two days of pain only? _It seemed like years that I had been in pain and months of keeping my mouth shut. I couldn't believe how short the time was. I would have believed they were lying.

"Fine, then." Maria said. "But just wait until you see how amazing our army will be. We will never go thirsty." I heard a chair scrapped across stone, followed by two others. One pair of footsteps walked towards me. The other two walked away until I could no longer hear them. The first pair of footsteps stopped and I heard the sound of somebody sitting.

"Jasper, you are probable confused. But this sort of thing is happening all over the south. My race, vampires, are fighting a war under the noses of humans. It is a war for blood. To have such a large territory that we can drink every night. You must know some rules about the life that you are moving into. We cannot kill humans conspicuously. If we do, the vampire version of a royal family come and kill you, they are called the Volturi. When you complete the change you will feel a burning in your throat. Do not worry about this. It is called the 'thirst' and we all suffer from it. The thirst will flare up when you are near humans, even stronger if blooding is flowing out of their veins," Maria paused; her voice was full of pleasure as she spoke about the blood. As if the mental image she fed me awakened her desire. After what had happened that night I was ready to believe her. These girls seemed to only tell the truth. But the truth they told seemed tainted, unreal and sinister. "I have chosen you to be part of my army; you will soon complete the metamorphosis into a vampire. You will be strong, fast, and almighty. You have already had experience as a soldier. I will teach you techniques that will be more useful. When and where to use your teeth, how to fight against the odds in teeth to teeth conflicts." she continued.

I now had a name for her and the other two, vampires. That was what they were. No angels or ghosts, something that folklore said was much more terrible. Then Maria had spoken of me becoming one and more fights to come. I wondered whether the fighting of humans provoked these vampires or could it be the other way around. These questions I guessed I may find the answer. Yet the pain still seared onwards. Slowly, it left the outer regions of my body. I realised that my hearing had vastly improved. Outside I could hear horses going past, people on foot. Further away, I don't know how far, a battle ragged. A one with gunshots. I wondered whether I would have been in that. Would I have died if I wasn't becoming a vampire? But then, wasn't a vampire dead? I turned over the possibilities that it was my destiny to die. One, as a human to be forever silenced. The second as a vampire, to be moving, thinking, feeling but not living, never going forwards. I knew the former option was the best. To have died with honour on the open fields, not to a woman and then fight other battles.

But I still lived. I had never been in a battle and maybe this would offer me the excitement that had first encouraged me to join up in the army, even if I was too young. The pain was now coming to the heart, which was still beating. I could hear it clearly. It was picking up pace as if it were racing time, which it was. It seemed to take off like a hawk. The pain was unbearable. I cried out, unable to keep the quietness I had maintained for who knew how long. There was a sound of footsteps moving a lot quicker than a humans but I could make each step out. I could tell that there were three of them. The vampires. They had come to be ready to greet me when this pain ceased. At least I presumed it would cease. I couldn't help but wither in pain, trying to put out the fire. My heart ran so fast it no longer beat, it held as on constant sound. Then nothing. Silence.

I opened my eyes. I could now move under my own control. I could see each dust moat that floated around in the sky, like they were moving in some sort of slowed jig. I breathed in and the jig suddenly speeds. The air plunged into my lungs but I didn't need it. The only reason I breathed appeared to be because of the scents that hit the roof of my mouth. Sweet scents from the girls, the vampires. The whole house smelt of dust. It hadn't been in use for ages. It was wooden and falling down in places. It was night outside. I could smell the honeysuckle and hear the insects buzzing, a night's chorus. My throat seemed to still be on fire. I wanted to quench it. I knew this to be called the 'thirst.' from what Maria had told me. Nettie and Lucy both had blood red eyes; I remember their eyes being black when we first met. Maria's had stayed the same black colour, like cold opals. The thirst in my throat burned. It felt hot and dry, like the midday out on the plains. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.

"You are awake." Maria said, she seemed happy, pleased with herself. I felt the emotions rolling off her. I was always good at sensing how others were feeling but this was different. Instead of sensing I was feeling. It was a strange sensation, to feel what others were feeling. I tried to swallow, to stiffen the burn in my throat but the action didn't work.

"He's thirsty." Nettie said.

"Maria, why don't you take him out and get him accustomed to this life. You should feed soon, anyway. We will lie low around here." Lucy said.

"That sounds like a good plan." Maria said, looking over to her two fellow vampires. "Come, Jasper." she said, heading towards the door. I followed, automatically. She was in charge and I knew that I currently was outranked by all three. They would have no problems disposing of me. We walked out into the humid night. The water seemed to condense of our skin. I could now see that it was. I wondered why but the question was answered when Maria took my hand and led me swiftly out of the town, moving at a speed that would make humans think us as ghosts. He hand was colder than everything else. But it felt warm to me. Everything else was hotter than usual. So I knew that vampires had cold skin. Maria led me far away from the town into the middle of an open plain.

"Jasper, you will automatically know how to hunt and basic fighting moves. I will teach you how to be a fighter better than any newborn. We shall hunt tonight so that you can be distracted from your thirst, although it will remain it won't be so strong." Maria said. "We will go to the next town and drink." Maria said. She then started running, I followed, the power felt amazing, godlike. We arrived in the next town in a few minutes. A journey that would have taken a few hours by foot. Maria silently slipped into the town. She was looking up at the windows. They were all open. She paused outside one, tensing, and then she leaped up and landed silently on the windowsill. She gave a nod of the head telling me to follow her. She slipped in. I made the leap. It was easy but I still had to keep the silence which required some concentration. I then followed Maria in. I could see a man sleeping in the bed. Maria had dumped a woman's body on the floor. I realised that the woman had been knocked out. No blood was spilled. I wanted to protest for the woman's life to fight for it as I had been taught. However I was sure that this was not the way my life would lead. I would have to kill woman and children before the end.

"I'll take my share away. I don't want a fight on my hands. Just bite and suck the blood up." Maria said and then she took the unconscious body away. Now that I was no longer concentrating on her the smell of the human's blood hit me. It smelt so good; I could imagine thousands of different ways to get at the blood, to savour the warm, sweet taste as it poured down my throat. The quenching solution to my parched throat. My throat flared up and it was too painful to stay. I moved without thinking towards the sleeping body. I was by the bed, the man was still. I leaned in, quickly, faster than I had run. My lips hit the warm flesh of the human's; I could feel the blood pulsing as if it was aware of the danger. In that split second I could almost taste the blood. Then I sank my teeth in without thinking. I drank heavily. The blood was so sweet and flavoursome. It flowed quickly and smoothly from the man into my parched throat. It felt good and the burning in my throat seemed to die down, to quieten. I felt as if my body was trembling in delight at this wonderful taste, the sensation of drinking blood. It was the best thing I had ever tasted in my whole life. I could have closed my eyes in delight at the taste, the texture. Although it brought me pleasure it also brought me disgust. I didn't know I could love the taste of another man's life so much. It seemed to barely take any time at all. The corpse was soon finished, no more blood to be had and the fire had turned to embers.

I looked over to the doorway. I heard Maria coming up. She watched me and looked into my eyes, hers had become blood red. "It's good, isn't it?" she asked. I didn't move but the look in my face told her all she needed to know. The fact that my throat was better, that the blood had given me such enjoyment. "We all feel like this. It is the only way we can live. We all have to fight so we can feed otherwise the fire will get us. That is why you are now one of us. We... I need you. So we can quench the fire that forever burns." she told me. I knew that I wanted more blood, even if my throat was no longer dry. I understood why we had to fight. It made sense after what I had felt. The lust for blood was the only reason we existed. It was the core of us. We lived off it, but in the end it brought us the fight that Maria kept talking about.

"Shall we leave?" asked Maria. I wondered why she asked that. She was obviously the one who was in charge. Why should my opinion mater to her. Maria shifted. "We shall, then." she said.

She leaped out the window, her dress billowing as the wind rushed by her. She landed, silent as a ghost. I followed. Maria turned to look at the house. She struck a match and threw it into the lower window that was open. She watched as it wooden building quickly caught fire.

"Fire!" she shouted, then she ran away quickly, before any human could see her and I followed, keeping the same pace as her but remaining just behind her. It took a second or two for us to get out of the town and we were soon speeding across the plain. The air rushed past, giving an exhilarating feeling I hadn't noticed while the thirst had burned at my throat. Maria stopped by a stream, which barely flowed. It was the dry season and the streams usually dried up and the rivers became the new streams. She bent down to study the ground. "Good chance that they will come back later." she muttered to herself. She stood up, quickly.

"I'm going to take you back." she told me, and then she ran away from the stream and back to the town which held the house where I had been turned. We silently entered the sleeping town and then moved into the house.

"You're back early." Nettie said, looking into my eyes. I saw Lucy's eyes flicker to mine as well. I wondered why they did this.

"I saw prospects of getting more for our army." Maria said.

"More soldiers?" asked Lucy.

"Leaving the battle field. I saw their tracks. I think they will come back for the injured." Maria told them.

"We'll look after this one." Nettie promised.

"He'll be fine on his own." Lucy added.

Maria gave a nod and then left. I turned to look back at the two I had been left with.

"We shall take you to your quarters." Lucy said. She walked out another door and into what must be the basement.

"You are to stay here until we come for you, understood, Jasper?" Nettie asked. I guessed that Maria had told then my name.

"Yes, Ma'am." I said. The two left, closing the door behind them. I was left alone. There was no light but I could see everything clearly, even without the help of the moon. The whole place was almost empty. A table had been shoved to the side and a cloth draped over it. Three chairs were positioned around it. I guessed that it would be pulled out when Maria, Nettie and Lucy wanted a conference, to discuss tactics. There were beams that held the celling up. The floor was made of stone. I noticed how the place wasn't made for comfort. But as a soldier this wasn't too bad. To have a roof to sleep under was something that we didn't get. We usually had to camp out. There was a mirror at one side of the room. I walked over to it, wondering whether I would be able to see the reason why they kept on looking at my eyes. I then caught sight of my reflection.

The person who looked out from the mirror didn't look like me. He had pale skin, which looked like alabaster. He had the same hair as me and the same sort of features but it was more... handsome. I struggled with that word. It was something that we soldiers never thought about, nor applied to ourselves. But the thing that drew my attention most was the eyes. They had become blood red. They shone with an almost sinister look. I blinked and so did my reflection. The eye colour remained. I understood why Maria's eyes had changed when we had hunted, why Nettie and Lucy had different coloured eyes after they hunted. The blood made vampire eyes turn red. As the thirst grew the eyes darkened. I turned away from my reflection. It brought nothing. I turned back to remember the last night I had been human. It was weird, though. The memory was foggy, like I was trying to see with mud in my eyes and ears. As I concentrated it grew clearer and logged in my mind. The human memories were harder to remember than ever. But the memories of the fire and everything else after that was so clear. When I thought about it, it was like it was happening again. This new life was different from what I was used to. I then heard the door open. It was Maria, I could smell her scent. She was carrying a person, no, two people who were in pain. I wondered whether they were becoming vampires, like me. I almost winced as I thought about what they would be going through. I remained still, listening to the pleading cried of the two men to put out their fire. To kill them. I knew that they would be confused. Like how I had been they wouldn't understand as they entered this new life. I looked around the room again and notice another door. I walked over to it and another scent hit me. It was more vampires. Male, six of them. It was surprising to be able to know so much just from the scent that flowed under the small gap from the door way.

Then I heard footsteps from the other door. Maria was coming down the stairs. I turned and watched as the door opened and Maria walked in. She silently walked over to me. "We are to begin some of your training. First, I will teach you to be invisible to the humans. Then some battle skills. Then you will be able to meet the other six I have already found." Maria told me. I waited for her next words. "Right now, you are constantly moving faster than humans would. You must learn to be able to speak, walk, and run slow when around humans. But never get too close. Only go out at dusk with one of us. This way they won't notice you." she told me. I noticed her voice had slowed. I guessed this was what she meant by speaking slower, like a human. "Do you understand?" she asked.

"Yes, Ma'am." I said, making sure that I kept my voice slower so it matched the speed that she talked at.

"Just call me Maria." she said. I didn't know what she was getting at. She was in charge. She should have a title. I nodded.

"I'm trying to get you used to speaking in like a human. If you are walking out at dusk and they hear you say 'Yes Ma'am' you will draw more attention to yourself. You must refrain you politeness for when we are in a safe place, like this." she told me.

"Yes, Maria. I understand." I said. It felt strange speaking so slow but I knew I would get used to it.

"Good, Jasper. How are you?" she asked.

"Fine, thank you. And you?" I asked, playing along with her.

"I'm very well, Jasper." she said, remaining at human speed. "Very good. Whenever speaking, please keep at this pace as practise." she told me. "Now we move onto walking." she said, she took my arm and started to walk as slow as a human. I froze for a split second then followed he example.

"You are very good at this, Jasper." Maria said. "Some take a lot longer. But running will be harder. Try this."

Maria ran over to the other side, leaving me. He pace was slow as if she was walking at normal vampire speed. I tried, but I got across quicker than I should have. Maria looked at me.

"That was too fast." she said. "Show me again." I again ran across, trying to keep slow. It wasn't very easy and took several attempts before I perfected it. I could sense that the sun was now up. The screaming from upstairs still continued. I managed to ignore it. I found it almost as difficult as running like a human. With my new senses, it was harder to concentrate. Maria seemed happy about how well I had been doing.

"I'm going to teach you some fighting techniques." she told me. We spent the rest of the day going over fighting moves, how to dodge attacks, how to be as fast as lightning. How to keep my concentration on the fight. With all the detail coming so strong and clear when you were moving at such speeds it was a bit hard to remain focused. But not too hard to master in less than a day.

"Well done. I'm going to introduce you to the others who I will refer as your brothers." Maria said, opening the door which contained the six other male vampires. "I will be back tomorrow." Maria said. "Stay there until then."

I walked in and Maria closed the door behind me. I could see six others, sitting or standing around. Some leant against the walls, casually. Others sat in corners tracing patterns into the floor. A pair were arguing and I could see eyes flickering towards them. I wasn't sure what to do. As I stepped further into the room all eyes flickered towards me. I let myself feel calm. I always noticed that when I let myself be calm others would often follow. Most eyes turned away, the only two pairs that remained were from the two who had been fighting. I could sense a lot of anger coming from them. One stepped towards me menacingly. I noticed in the corner of the room a small pile of ash. I blinked. I hadn't smelt it earlier but now that I directed my sense of smell towards it I could tell that it had once been a vampire.

"So, we have another new comer." said the first. The second walked towards me.

"Shall we see how long he can last?" asked the second. All eyes had turned back to me. These two were extremely angry and a fight was unavoidable. The first ran at me, I quickly stepped aside, putting my foot out. He tripped and whacked into the wall, which crumbled, but not all the way through. The second leapt at me, I instinctively ducked, then grabbed the body as it flew past me. I push it into the floor. By this time, the first had recovered. He now was walking around, more careful. He had seen how strong I was. The second was just recovering. Then, the first flew at me. I again stepped out of his path, but grabbed his arm with such force that it tore off. I was left with an arm in my hands. I tossed it over to one side. The second was up now and both ran in unison towards me. As they came from opposite directions, I grabbed their heads as they ran past and leapt up. I then flipped forwards and their heads came for. I landed and turned to look at them. The bodies had fallen to the ground. I could feel the heads trying to get back to the rest of its body. I could see the arm I had pulled off moving towards the body with one arm. One of the vampires who had watched picked up the arm and set it on fire with a match.

"Put the heads with the body." he ordered. I dropped the two heads and watched as he set the bodies and heads alight. The fire smelt nice, like vampires. Sweet. I watched as the flames licked at the air, making the warm room go hotter and hotter still. I knew the scent would be flowing around the house. Any vampire would be able to smell it. I hoped what I had done wasn't bad.

I moved to the side, like the others. I watched them warily. In case they attacked me, like the two others. No one else moved but I could sense the tension around me. It was a very strong tension. I waited during the rest of the night and now the day. The screams from upstairs had died hours ago. Now I could hear three footsteps coming down the stairs. Two, the louder and faster ones stopped in the other room. I guessed these must be two new vampires. The last pair stopped at the door and opened it. Maria looked across the room. She saw the large pile of ash in the middle.

"Who did this?" she asked. All eyes turned towards me. I stood up. It was my fault and I was prepared to face the punishments. He looked at me. I felt pride coming from her. She was also impressed but ever so slightly annoyed.

"Well done, Jasper." she told me. "Follow me." She stood and I walked towards her. When I reached her and turned and lead me back into the other room. She closed the door. I could see the two other new vampires. They had red eyes and hung about nervously. Both had dark brown hair. I didn't recognise them, although they wore uniform. "Newborns." she whispered to me. I had heard her use that word before. It seemed that all new vampires were called newborns.

Maria led me up the stairs. I saw Lucy gliding past. She stopped when she saw us.

"So, has your soldier turned out to be a good choice?" she asked, her eyes widening in surprise.

"He destroyed two of the strongest." Maria said.

"You can't be happy that you have to replace them." Lucy said, as if I wasn't there.

"But Jasper has proven to be a strong soldier." Maria said thoughtfully.

"So is he getting rewarded?" asked Lucy.

"Yes. We were just leaving." Maria said. She then turned and led me to the door. She leaned against the wall.

"Jasper, are you up for another drink?" she asked me, casually. I knew she was talking about blood. My throat flared up at the thought. I wanted more blood. It had been only a day since I had last drunk. I didn't know how long we could last without blood but I did know I wanted more. I could remember seeing some of the vampires with darker eyes. I guessed our eyes darkened the longer we had gone without blood. But because the thirst had been mentioned it was now there. I hadn't noticed it earlier. It had just been a dull ember. It wasn't fair that just the mention could set it off.

"Yes, Maria:" I said, remembering not to refer to her as _Ma'am_ because there were some people walking out in the late night.

"Do you think you can manage by yourself?" Maria asked. "Just make sure that no other human sees you drink."

"I can do that." I told her. Even if the thirst wasn't as bad as it had been I would be willing to do anything to drink again. As a human came by close, I could smell their blood, which continued to play with the fire in my throat.

"I'll meet you back here, Jasper." Maria told me. "You can hunt in this area."

Maria then walked off. I turned and headed in the opposite direction. I smelt the humans, looking for one I could lure away. Then, I smelt one turn into an alley. I followed, being as inconspicuous as possible, like what Maria had taught me. Being nothing more than a shadow in a shadow. The person was a beggar. They had no home other than a few blankets in an alley that had no doors or windows. It was perfect. I moved towards my prey. When I was within a meter I pounced, moving like lightning towards my hapless prey. The beggar didn't have time to scream as my teeth easily sliced into his neck. I drank the blood, quickly, allowing the great pleasure was through me, like waves on a beach. I shivered in delight, I didn't know if the taste could ever become old. It was just too fresh and taste for anyone to get bored of it. I closed my eyes, it was so good, and it made me feel like I was relaxing and getting excited at the same time. The human soon had now blood left in him. I knew I had to clear away the evidence. I quickly dug a shallow grave with my bare hands and put the body in it. It took no time to cover the body back up and smooth the ground. No one would be able to tell that the human's body lay just under a few meters of earth and sand.

I looked around, sniffing the air. No humans were passing by the entrance to the alley that I was in. I walked along the shadows and to the edge. Peering around I could see that not a soul was in sight. I stepped out into the night wondering where Maria was. I guessed I should wait for her. I leaned against the wall by which we had spoken by only a few minutes ago. Her scent was heavy around the area. Mine also lingered around. It was weird, being able to smell what I smelled like and to be able to recognise it. I kept an eye out for any humans and for Maria. But it was simpler just to use my nose. I could scent anything coming towards me. A human passed and didn't even glance in my direction. I had smelt them coming and a dull ache came into my throat. I felt full from all that I had drunk. I guessed that I wasn't so thirsty which was why my throat didn't set alight. Then I caught the smell of Maria. She was coming towards me at the pace of a human.

Turning, to look in her direction, I saw Maria heading straight to towards me. Her eyes were brighter than they had been earlier. I knew she had hunted too, like me. Her eyes rested on mine. Lingering for just a split second. I knew she was checking that I had feasted upon a human. After all that seemed to be the reward for beating the two vampires who were now nothing more than ashes in the basement that was now my home. It wasn't a bad reward. It was the best reward I felt. Nothing but human blood could satisfy me. It was blood that we all craved. Even Maria.

"Jasper." she said. "I have a little proposition for you." she smiled, showing pure white teeth, even though she had just drunken human blood. "If you continue to be so good at staying alive and destroying other vampires then I may promote you. But do understand that I do want a large enough army so we can feast as much as we like." she told me.

"I understand, Maria." I replied, I could tell she was being truthful. I remembered how I had tried to get higher in the army and managed it. Even though I was new. It had been so good.

"For now, you will return back to the rest of your brothers. You are currently all equal." she told me. I gave her a curt nod to show I understood.

"Good." Maria smiled and she turned around and led the way back into the house that was her home and held my new quarters. Wordlessly, I followed her. Back into the place that held where I must stay. Inside the house, and down the stairs, I kept a meter behind Maria. She was going to check on the new vampires that she had turned. As she opened the first door, she motioned for me to go through.

Swiftly, I walked past the newborns, my head down. I opened the door to my shared quarters and went in. Eyes turned in my direction, some bright but not nearly as bright as mine, others dark. The owners of the dark eyes gave off a longing emotion, as if they wished it had been them instead of me who had the chance to go and drink the blood. However, as I concentrated on the emotions around me, I realised that they all did. I was not the first nor last to crave blood more than anything else the world had to offer me. It was the one thing we all shared at this moment in time. A craving so powerful that we killed for it. Killing was the only way to satisfy the pain, the burn, the lust for what we had lost. The liquid life, that flowed in the veins of the living.

* * *

**Thank you for reading. I do not own the Twilight Saga and this story is based off Stephanie Meyer's description of Jasper's history. I hope you have enjoyed it, more will hopefully be put up at a later date.**


	2. Crimson Flowers

**Chapter Two**

My eyes followed the movements of one of the newborns as Maria led them out, longingly. It was one of the older newborns. He had just destroyed another of the newborns. The two who had arrived after me where already dead. The one that was leaving was the last of the ones who had been here before me. It had been a while since I had got in a fight. Most of them avoided me. No new comers had arrived for a while either. I had been in three of four fights and each time I would be taken out to hunt and I could get to drink more blood. I hadn't lost. I fingered the matches in my pocket that Maria had given me. I could pick anyone of these newborns and destroy them, even though I was newborn myself. But I never picked fights unless they gave me cause.

Harsher crimson eyes now stared out on my face. Most of the others had darker eyes, apart from one or two or had just won their first battles. I traced a scar that was on my alabaster coloured arm. One of the older newborns had given that to me. He had been more sensible than the first two who had battled me. I had found out that they were a few weeks new to this life. The one who had given me this scar had been a few months old. My throat had felt like it was on fire when Maria led the other vampire out to hunt. I wanted to take his place so much. This had been the longest I had spent away from human blood. One week. Others had spent longer away from human blood. The ones who didn't fight. But they could show potential. Sometimes, it was the ones who kept away from the fight that won.

Briefly, I considered starting a fight. I really did want human blood. It tasted so good, the texture, the warm. It was so perfect. Never in the whole of my human life had I tasted something so desirable. Nor had there been women as beautiful as Maria, Lucy or Nettie nor men that could match how hansom my comrades and were. For that was what the fellow newborns were, I had found out and I had yet to meet my true enemies. Maria told me on the last hunt I had been on that we were comrades and that was why we shouldn't destroy each other so readily. That was a reason why I didn't start any fights. I knew it made Maria put out. She needed us for more important fights that loomed on the horizon, like a rain cloud after a harsh summer. The effects would benefit us but during the time it would be dangerous and we would be likely to get hurt or killed. The wait for the storm brought tension.

Every single pair of eyes glanced nervously around the room, resting on one vampire, than another. Waiting for one to snap out at another. For a chance to drink blood to arise. The room was dark, I could see perfectly well, yet the crimson eyes seemed to glow like a bright furnace. Your eyes couldn't help but be drawn towards them. They carried menace behind them. Menace that was contained. I knew my eyes shone similarly to my brothers in arms. We all carried the same wild look in our eyes. We shared the same lust. Just thinking about the lust would make the throat burn, another thing we all had in common. The longer you went without it the more it burned. But if you could forget about it than a week or a half was needed for it to come forward to tell you that what your body needed, craved was the blood. Then, we became dangerous. Well, more dangerous than we are with human blood. I had seen how wild it drove some who kept out of the fight. But they became weaker, easier to beat. The weakness grew greater the older a vampire was. A four month old vampire would be weaker if he hadn't drunk blood for a week than a three week vampire who had gone without blood for the same period of time.

Eyes flickered nervously around; everything was silent, waiting for when the oldest newborn would return. I didn't know any of the newborns names. They were here today gone tomorrow. Not worth getting close to them. The oldest newborn was about twenty-four; he had been in this life four months. Four years older than me physically, and about four years, two months and two weeks older than me mentally. I knew that at some point we would have to fight and I wondered, as my spare time went past who would win? What would the outcome be? Would I live to see a real battle against enemies instead of those I should be learning with? Then again, I supposed that we did learn when he killed each other. This was practise for when we would fight against others like us. Created for the same purpose. A real fight would seem like almost nothing.

Without moving, I counted the number that we currently had. Six; including me and the newborn who had gone hunting. It wasn't much of a force but more would come. They always did and more would die. It was just the way of things. I did not know if Maria had meant it when she had mentioned that I might get promoted and be above the others. I had already killed more, survived. But then again, what if I were drawing with the older vampire? What if he had been offered the same prospects? Life wasn't easy nor was this half-life that I now seemed to lead. I looked up as I heard the door to the house open. All of us turned our heads to look at the flimsy wood that would soon be opened. Steps, two pairs, coming down the stairs that led to the first part of the cellar. Moving towards our door. Then, the steps stopped. The door opened and I could see the oldest newborn. His eyes bright crimson; showing that he had feasted. Maria was just behind him. As he walked in, she closed the door behind him. We were alone. I wasn't surprised by the emotions coming off the oldest newborn. Most came back feeling like this. Wanting to pick a fight so that they could taste the sweet blood that was always given as a reward.

However, I was surprised when he headed towards me. Usually you'd go for someone low down. Lower than me. It would be too close a fight. I tensed as his steps drew closer to me, my eyes never breaking contact. I took in everything. I was ready, everything about me was alert. He gave a nasty smile.

"Poor you! You must be so thirsty! When was the last time you drank?" he mocked me. I remained calm. We had to remain calm in the human army, it was no different here. Apart from the fact that now the stakes were higher. I let no emotions pass over my face.

"One week ago." I replied in an even tone, as civil as I could make it.

"One week! Such a silly amount of time. I never have to go that long without blood. Are you weak or something?" he taunted me. I tried not to give in.

"I'm not violence mad, like you are. Keep that in mind." I said, ignoring how much I wanted to attack him, to kill him. Then I could hunt, taste human blood on my tongue, and feel the warmth on my lips as the red liquor of life rushed into me.

"What advantage does that give you? The ability to not feel the thirst?" I could feel the thirst. It burned in my throat and I just wanted to kill. I didn't break my gaze, but I didn't reply either. He would know the answer. I still felt the thirst and it was strong.

"Ah! So you do feel it. So why don't you attack any of the others?" he asked, his voice patronizing.

"Maria needs numbers for her army." I replied, evenly, looking casually at my opponent. I knew there would be a fight. Why try stop it? "Maybe you should try and think more about the future."

"What? Is that your best attempt at having a go at me?" laughed the other, sarcasm in his voice.

"Do you want to see what a fight between us would look like?" I asked quietly and softly.

"You would die!" he snarled and then lunged at me.

I was up and side stepped his clumsy attack with ease, all within a second. He turned to face me and lunged again. I side stepped but then lunged as he flew past my side. I caught him easily. Quickly, I moved my hand to his head, wrapping my arm around his neck. I twisted sharply and pulled up. The sound of marble breaking echoed around the room. I kicked over the body of my fallen enemy and who might have been comrade and dropped the head. I pulled some matches out of my pocket and light a match. Then, without any ceremony, I dropped the flame on the body. It lit up, a funeral pyre and I watched as my older comrade burned. I was now the oldest vampire out of us. Maria and her sisters were still ahead and in terms of places I was still among my brothers in arms. But to them, I was set above all of them.

Then I heard footsteps, moving swiftly. Maria would have heard the sounds of a vampire's head being torn off and the scent of smoke would mean that one was defiantly dead. I remember once seeing a fight when a vampire had been dismembered but not burnt. They had somehow managed to reform. That took his opponent by surprise and the one who had been dismembered had actually won. Both were dead now. That was just the way of things. Everyone died. I knew that my death would probably be coming soon. It was surprising that I had managed to last this long. It was a lot longer than some of my predecessors.

The door opened and I watched as Maria came in. The rest of the newborns backed away, knowing that this moment was mine. The meal that she would give was mine. If any of them argued with that, they would be dead. I watched as Maria approached me, my gaze cautious, as her footsteps brought her closer, hearing each foot fall. Then she was in front of me, a smile on her face. "Come." I walked forward and she held out her hand, as if I were to accompany a weak lady on some trip to the theatre. I took her hand, as it gave me an opportunity to hunt and that I longed for.

Maria led me up through the house as usual, but then she turned to face me.

"Jasper," she started, staring into my red eyes, as if seeking some answer to be found in the crimson colours of my eyes. "You have been most useful to me and I think that it is time for you to be promoted. You will look after the newborns to the best of your ability; however you will not need to stay among them all the time. Try not to destroy them, or let them destroy each other. You will be able to hunt when you like, but first come to me to tell me, it would be best if you had my permission, especially while you are still in the stage of this newborn life of a vampire."

I nodded, keeping my face devoid of emotions, but secretly I was pleased that I was being promoted, it was something I had grown used to in the human army and now it continued to this life.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Thank you, Jasper, I will continue to bring home more soldiers, now, go hunt, you must be thirsty." Maria smiled at me.

Again, I gave a curt nod then I headed straight outside, it was night and I hide in the darkness, no human would be able to see my pale skin in such darkness. My crimson eyes looked around at the empty streets that would be teaming during the day, this late, very few would choose to wonder from the supposed safety of their homes. Only the ones who wouldn't be missed would remain out here. If none of them were around, I could always leap through a window; drain a person then burn the house. However, Maria preferred it if we did not do that in this area were we lived, that only was allowed to happen when we went to other towns, which was something we were only able to do with her, otherwise we would be punished. Looking around I took a deep breath of air, trying to find a recent scent of a human to hunt. No scent came to me, so I moved through a few more streets, my footsteps silent, even animals didn't run away and I could see creatures that humans never usually saw. Pets that shied away from the strangers had no time to escape my gaze, the rare mountain lions that lurked along the edges of the civilizations were something that was never seen to humans.

Finally, I reached a fresh scent of human and I automatically dropped down into a hunting crouch and slowly pulled myself along the trail. Following the scent, I can to a street urchin dragging himself along the ground, heading towards another poor person, likely his mother who was walking on ahead. For a second, I thought about this, I was dedicated to the hunt, so I would have to go in for it, but I would have to kill both. Leaping forward, I snapped the boy's neck in an instance and then I sunk my teeth into the mother's neck and held my hand over her mouth to stop her screams, My other arm was wrapped around her, holding the withering body still so I could drink in peace. As the first taste of blood touched my tongue, the frenzy began and I pressed my mouth closer to the wound I had made, drinking heavily and even I could hear the small moan of pleasure that escaped me. It had been too long since I had last hunted.

When I had drained the body I closed my eyes, summing up the taste and pleasure I had just felt and I gave a little sigh. Turning I headed for the carcass of the boy and drained him quickly, the blood in this would have been nicer fresh, but young blood was often the best blood, so it was as good as the one I had just drunk, just not as filling. After draining the two I checked around, no one had seen me. When the bloodlust settled in, you really were in no control and it was impossible to break out and kill any human who saw you. Best thing was to check the scent around and if any were fresh, follow that scent as quick as possible and dispose of the problem.

Turning back to the corpses, I picked up the boy with one hand and slung him over my shoulder like some sort of prize to take home, then I picked up the woman and slung her over in the same manor. Silently, I then moved into the darkness, walking a good fair few metres from the town before I started to dig a grave for the two humans I had just killed. Soon they were buried and their bodies lost and I headed back for home. Silent as a ghost, I slipped quietly through the sleeping town, if anyone looked out, they wouldn't see my, if I were carrying a torch, the golden flames illuminating the pale vampire skin, they would of thought of me a spirit, passing through. But, of course, I was not so stupid to do that, I was not going to show myself to the herd, I followed Maria's words and I had been able to gain a higher rank than my peers.

My strides were long as I moved, but I was moving at a speed that would be acceptable if a human saw me, it was the way Maria had told us to walk, how we were to blend in, in case a human saw the impossible. Sometimes, it did seem pointless, doing something that was not going to help at all, the chances of a human seeing me were almost next to one, and if I were moving at the normal vampire speed, the certainly wouldn't have time to notice me. They'd just think that it had been some weird figment of their imagination. Within a minute I arrived back at the house which we were contained in and I opened the door, as usual, the door creaked softly, a human would have had to listen for that however, we vampires found it easy to hear, I was sure that most of the newborns would of picked that up.

Maria certainly did, her figure appeared in front of me in less than a nanosecond, lifting one porcelain hand up, and she pushed my hair back and looked into my eyes.

"Good," She said softly. I was a bit confused by her actions and words; I guessed that she was checking that my eyes were a suitable red colour and that I was therefore ready for whatever lay ahead in my new duties. I waited patiently for what my order would be.

"Come to the living room with me," Maria smiled, taking my hand in hers. "We shall discuss some plans with you." This sounded similar to a debriefing and it would probably give me a firmer grasp on what was to happen, I followed Maria, keeping pace with her but always just on step behind. She was my superior and should thus go in front. However, if we were going into battle, it would be safer for her in the middle, or even staying out of the war zone.

Entering the living room, I looked around, curiously, Lucy and Nettie were seated around a polished table, and Maria walked over to the head, Lucy was at the other head. I was designated a place opposite Nettie, who looked at me with curiosity, Lucy was also curious, but she hid it better than her counterpart. I guessed that Maria alone had made the choice to promote me and this interested the two others. Clearing her throat, Maria looked out at us and I raised my eyes to meet her crimson eyes.

"As we are aware, we have begun to build an army, which will hopefully be great enough so we can take the prize, Mexico City," This was knew knowledge to me. I had known that Maria wanted to increase her hunting lands, but not about Mexico City and the way she said it, it sounded like that was going to be a hard fight.

"Seeing as we now have Jasper to oversee the training of the newborns, we will have more time to change humans to build up an army. Jasper, how long do you think it will take for our army to be ready to take on a force of… let's say ten?" Lucy said, casting a cold glance towards Jasper.

For a second, Jasper thought about this. He had not had enough time to see the full forces of newborns; yes he had seen the fights when they were one on one, but a full force battle? Also, I didn't know how well they would fight with uneven numbers or against more mature vampires, how well they would work together and a lot more information.

"Looks like you soldier may be incompetent." Smiled Lucy and I looked at her, understanding that she was trying to point out a flaw in Maria's judgement.

"Nonsense, he just hasn't been given the right amount of information to make such an important decision. Jasper, I trust that you will inform me when you consider our soldiers to be ready to fight." Maria said, her voice calm. I gave them a nod to show that I would, and Nettie got up. I turned to look at her and saw that her eyes had grown dark, she was going hunting. Lucy also got up, her eyes were darker and they both left. Maria sighed then turned to look at me.

"They've gone hunting. I will be leaving to get more soldiers for our army. I would be grateful if you could start to teach those we have remaining not to kill each other and also give them some tips on how to fight." Then, with that, Maria got up and left. I was in charge of the house while they were away, I was in charge of the newborns below. I wouldn't fail in my duty. Slowly, for a vampire I moved towards the basement, it was good to keep my movements slow and human. Humans did not notice humans and practise made perfect. I could hear the breath of the newborns hush as they heard my almost silent footfalls on the stairs and I could feel the tension coming from them before I opened the door. I knew how it felt to be at that moment, so I did not rebuff them. Opening the door, I cast my gaze over them, none of the soldiers had eyes bright like mine, and none were recent enough that they would consider not fighting until the next day.

"Why you?" snarled one of them angrily at me. Without emotions, I let my gaze slowly fall upon his face. He shuffled nervously.

"Stay inline." I ordered him. Slowly, he shuffled back and I could see that the rest where nervous. No one other than my creator and her sisters had used such power on them. This was new, and everyone was scared of new things.

"Will we still get blood?" came a nervous call from the back.

"That is up to Maria to decide, but I do not want you fighting," I said sternly, looking across the newborns as I spoke, hoping that they would be taking this in. "Maria needs numbers if we are to feed in peace. If we wish to have enough blood, we cannot go killing each other and hope to get enough blood! We must fight against true enemies!" I could now hear my voice hissing as I looked across at the dark crimson eyes that looked at me.

"So we are only just preparing?" came a scared voice from the corner. This time I turned to see a vampire with black eyes, one of the nonviolent ones.

"More will come, and we will need to be strong and together for that!" was all I could tell the newborn.

"So are you going to be training us?" asked one of them.

"Yes. And if you don't pay attention you will all die." I snarled back, the questioner shrunk into his corner.

"When do we start?" asked one of the moer older newborns.

"No." I informed him.

That sent them all shuffling back nervously, as if they expected me to kill them. I remained calm and soon they settled down.

"Look, no one will be killed; all we need to do is learn how to destroy our common enemies." I told them.

"So… what we are learning is going to save our lives?" asked one of them. Suddenly, I was at his side, lifting his legs up over his head and grabbing his neck.

"You need to think quick, react." Stepping away from him, I turned to look at the group in front of me.

"Practise that move. Then, after you have mastered it, I want you all to try how to evade the attack and how to get out if you fall into it." I ordered.

It pleased me to see how they all jumped straight to my orders without question. Sometimes, I would step in and demonstrate the attack or a way to defend yourself from it. They learnt well, training went by rather quickly and already they had learnt several more moves by the time Maria, Lucy and Nettie returned. Maria called me and I left the newborns to practise. I saw her carrying the bodies of two screaming humans, they were changing. Immediately, I moved, slinging on over my shoulder and carrying him to the table I had first awoken on. Maria smiled as I helped her.

After settling the screaming men down, Maria turned to look at me.

"Thank you, you have been most helpful." She smiled.

"No problem, Ma'am. I am here to serve you." I replied.

"I know." Maria smiled and she places a hand around my neck, looking into my eyes. I kept still, although I was feeling uncomfortable with her action. After a few seconds she walked away, laughing to herself.

"I thought so." Her words echoed down the hall. I blinked once, then went to keep an eye on the newborns.


	3. Play with your Food

**Chapter Three**

I sat silently watching the newborns as they rehearsed the deadly dance that they would need for the future, if they were to survive the battles that Maria had promised, yet we had seen none. It was at times like this that I enjoyed thinking about my murky human life. The more I thought about them, the easier it was to remember those times. When I was a child, I remembered learning about many things, I was home educated, my family were rich and owned a cotton plantation. In the human army there had been rumours that I had brought my way up to Major, as I had not been given the chance to participate in any battles, which was the usual way you would get promoted.

After years of home education, I had learnt everything about the Sciences, Maths, Literature, History, Latin, French and Spanish. Outside of my lessons, my mother taught me how to behave at the table, how to welcome quests and make conversation. My father had taught me how to ride, keep slaves in order, be a gentleman and, most importantly according to him, how to court woman from a noble or wealthy background. I had been told that they were the only ones suitable for me. And then my father, when satisfied with me went and found eligible ladies for me to court. It was never about love. That was something that only existed in fairy tales.

Courting was dull and tedious. Some woman would be dragged in, looking beautiful, her long hair tied in some intricate manor, the latest fashion, expensive clothes, like silk, always dresses. Pale powdered faces, even though they were probably pale underneath. Paleness was something that showed that you were rich; it meant that you weren't working the field, that you had slaves to do the work for you. Naturally, I would be at the door to welcome the lady into my house. A servant would take her travelling coat, a servant because that showed we were wealthy; others would have a slave doing that job. But we could afford to pay someone to do this job. I would then give the lady the tour of the house and the family history, as expected; our coat of arms was proudly shown. Then, I would give the lady a tour of the gardens, keeping well away from the slaves and their area. After that we would sit on the white chairs at the end of the lawn and drink iced tea.

I couldn't remember how many women I had courted; I knew it was a lot, more than ten, maybe over twenty. Each lady had been chosen by my father; each one had a good background and would bring more money to us, even though we would pay for her dowry. I had yet to choose someone. I guess that was a cause for me signing up. My father believed in slavery and so did I, so he had been fine with me going under aged to fight against the Unions of the north. He had given me plenty of money to take on my journey. I couldn't believe my luck. And it meant I could escape the long hours of courting.

Life had started out rather tedious in the army. It could never of been said to be the best. At the low ranks, you had barely anything; you owned nothing but the bare essentials. Something to eat, something to sleep in, one uniform and a few weapons. However, as I progressed up the ranks, I managed to get more things. I was even allowed to buy myself a horse. Ridding everywhere made things easier, for me at least. I didn't have to use so much energy walking or carrying things. So life and continued as normal until I had met the three beautiful ladies who now commanded me. It seemed that a lot of the South was focused around battles, and I could not say that I was tired of the battles. I had yet to face a true fight against the enemies of Maria. Yet every time I had to defend myself against the newborns that would not stay in line, I felt a thrill and a morbid enjoyment as I ripped them to pieces, as my teeth sunk into their flesh and pulled them slowly apart.

But there was something even more satisfying in this world, something even more fascinating than feeling my enemies die. The taste of blood. Pure blood was always amazing, it was sweet and my whole body yearned for it, every millisecond of every day. The feel of a dying heart beat as I held my victim against my cold skin, the warmth the flooded into me as I feasted off them. My whole body was now tuned towards that, I couldn't live without it. I wanted blood more than I had ever wanted anything in my whole existence. I wanted it, and my desire for it was morbid. I wanted death; I wanted to feast off death. Yet somehow, I could not be repulsed by myself. There was something that kept me wanting it so much that anything that would try keeping me away from the blood would fail.

I thirsted for the blood, even now as I watched the newborns practise their fight skills. We got very little break from all this training, only ever getting a break to hunt. Thinking about the thirst I wondered how long it had been since I had last hunted. I knew it wasn't good to hunt daily, most newborns hunted ever three or four days and Maria Lucy and Nettie could go for almost two weeks without hunting, although they did like to keep up their strength. With my new found freedom, I found that there was a great urge to try and hunt daily. However, I restrained myself, trying to be more like Maria. It had been five days since I had last hunted and I was very thirsty. I guessed thinking about my family was a way to try and ignore it.

"Rest." I told the newborns, standing up and moving out the room, I decided that it was time to talk to Maria and ask her if it would be okay to hunt. As I left the basement, I heard the sound of soft, bare feet approaching me. Nettie, she was the softest when walking and also the one who preferred not to wear shoes. I turned around and bowed to her respectfully before moving to stand aside and remaining absolutely still. She surprised me, by standing in front of me and addressing me.

"Jasper, I was looking for you." She told me. I remained silent, waiting for her next words. A smile appeared across the blonde's face as she looked at my eyes. "Trying to restrain like us? Trust me, you won't manage it. Come to my quarters, I wish to speak to you alone. Follow." Her voice had started of amused, but grew stronger until her order.

Turning, Nettie started to lead the way through the house and into a room. It was simple, with a desk, three chairs and a bed. I wondered why she had a bed, but then again, this house had belonged to humans. Throwing out furniture like this would just arouse suspicion. Sitting down on the chair, Nettie turned to face me, her dark red eyes looking into mine. I did not sit, that was not my place, and I waited for her to continue.

"Well, I suppose I should address the original concern first, before moving on to your lack of hunting," Nettie started, leaning back on the chair. "As you know, Maria has promoted you, so you are in charge of the newborns. She did with without speaking to Lucy or I; however, after consideration we can tell that this is a good choice. Now, when you were asked about how long you thought it would take, you had very little idea. I presume that Maria has not told you when it would be best for the newborns to move and right. Because it is in our best interest that you are not a year old when the time comes for the fight. Work with that time, Jasper and you will be rewarded for your loyalty." Nettie told me, her voice soft.

"Now, onto hunting, I would advise that you hunt every two or three days, just keep the range wide. You need to remain superior to the newborns at all times, and set a good example. Even now, you will probably have to hunt three or four to sate your thirst. Spread them out over the few towns we have, and not ones that we have hunted in recently, please." Nettie instructed me. Then, she dismissed me with a casual wave of her hand. I bowed to her before leaving the room. Sniffing, I picked up a fresh scent of Maria and followed it. She was reading in the living room and she noticed my entrance. The Mexican got up, placing a book mark in the book with her long slender porcelain fingers and she turned to look at me with bright crimson eyes, obviously she had just hunted. Tossing her black hair over her shoulder, Maria smiled at me, revealing her pearly teeth and I was reminded of the time when she had sunk those into my flesh and turned me into a vampire.

"Jasper," she said with a smile. "Why haven't you hunted in so long?"

"I have been trying to test my limits, ma'am, but I would be grateful if you could give me leave to hunt." I said, keeping my voice steady.

"Why of course, Jasper. Take as many as you needs, just remember to keep it inconspicuous." Maria purred. I bowed and thanked her before heading outside. It was dark and I quickly hurried out of the town. As soon as I had scented the stale scent of human my throat burned and I yearned to go on a killing spree.

Stopping, I sat by the road and thought about where to go, when I had an idea. Accidents were bound to happen long the roads, a highway man, all I would have to do is find a coach travelling that might be a target. I smiled at this thought. There would be plenty of blood for me and I would be able to bring the lootings back to Maria, Lucy and Nettie. Creeping silently along the road, I watched, keeping my distance, so I wasn't tempted by the humans who tread the dangerous path. I realised that it would also be easy to prey on highway men, no one would miss them.

Finally, over the distance I saw a night ridding carriage, which was not that common, most went out during daylight when it was safer, but it was getting close to dawn and if it were a family that had a long distance to travel… I licked my lips in anticipation as it came closer. I could see the driver, a slave and for a second I thought about what if it was my family, what if I ended up killing them? But I knew we never let a slave drive our carriage, always letting our servant do that job. The carriage appeared to be wealthy, and I knew this would be my prey. Racing low along the ground, unseen, I quickly came upon them. The horses sensed my presence and were startled. They ran off the track and the carriage toppled over. I heard screams and quickly silenced the slave.

The blood tasted so good as I drank the slave dry, not caring to go and silence the family inside the carriage who screamed, as yet unaware that I was draining the driver. I shivered violently as the blood went down my throat, and drank heavily. Licking my lips, I crawled in through the window and looked at the family. A father, mother and little boy, all of them with multiple cuts from the carriage toppling over and I smiled kindly at them. The boy was crying and his mother was trying to comfort him.

"Look, here's a good man who's going to help us, darlin'." She told him. It was just then that she noticed my glowing red eyes and screamed, I could smell her blood and it was so appealing, as was the child, the man was nearly as good. He moved to stand protectively in front of his family, drawing out a gun. I quickly knocked it aside and bit into his throat. His scream was cut off as I hurriedly drained him, still unable to stop myself from shivering as the blood came down my throat; it was so good on the burn, which just wouldn't stop. The woman fainted and the boy grew silent, he knew that death was approaching and he had no strength to keep away. Pulling away from the man as he ran out of blood I considered who to take next.

The mother wouldn't be as pure as the boy, but he was terrified, and I could almost imagine myself in his position. "Everything will be fine. You'll feel better soon." I told him with a smirk as the boy pressed himself away from me. He closed his eyes. I turned towards the woman and grabbed her limp body. Holding her close to me, I dug my teeth into my throat and she shuddered under the pain. I moaned with pleasure, as the thirst started to die down and it wasn't just about killing the eternal burn that hadn't vanished yet, but I was able to start to taste her blood. I sucked thirstily at the wound and closed my eyes in delight at the taste. I was annoyed when she was drained, it seemed like it was too early.

Turning, I saw the boy and I placed a cold hand on his face, he shivered and I smiled. "I'm not going to hurt you." I said softly, and he turned to look at me, exposing his neck. I moved forwards slowly, savouring the moment when I heard a laugh. I looked up and saw Maria.

"Well, look what we have," She laughed softly, looking down at me, the boy was still shaking and I wanted to drink. It was an effort to stop, but I had to be polite to Maria. I couldn't move away from my prey though and all I could feel was a snarl building up in my throat.

"I wonder where you have got your love of killing the innocents and torturing them." Maria smirked and I vaguely remembered Maria doing this to one of her victims. My red eyes flickered from her face to my prey and she laughed.

"So eager, so eager. Go ahead, my wonderful creation, let us see how well you can entertain me with your hunt."

And that was it, her word gave me permission to kill and I knew she wanted a show, worthy of her, so I set to work doing that. "Come here, darlin'" I whispered, mimicking the mother's voice with ease. He opened his large brown eyes and looked at me, confused.

"Where's Mamma?" he asked, his voice shaking.

"Mamma's not here." I told him, this time mirroring his father's voice. The boy shook violently, as terror filled him. It was obvious that Maria was happy and gleeful and I wanted to please her. I smiled at the boy.

"You can trust me." I told him, and he shrank away from my glowing gaze.

"You killed Mamma and Papa." The boy cried.

"No I didn't, they are still here." I almost seemed to purr out, hiding the fact that I was desperate to leap at the boy's throat and drink him. Maria seemed to sense this.

"Okay, Jasper, I have been entertained enough now, go on." She smiled, bending down to watch my actions. Suddenly, I was on the boy and my teeth were embedded in his throat. I shivered with delight and joy as the sweet blood ran down my throat, perfection; I wanted nothing more than to forever have this taste in my mouth and sating the burn that had been an inferno only a few minutes ago. I was barely aware of Maria's hand, pressed gently onto my back as I shuddered in delight from the blood. When the blood was all gone, I pulled away and licked my lips, removing all traces of the blood. I turned to look at Maria, who had just removed her hand.

"You've been very clever, today, Jasper." She told me with a smile on her face. I remained emotionless and waited for her to continue. "You figured out that you could get more blood and remain unnoticed if you attack a carriage. I presume that you wish to make this look like a highway man attack." She said.

"Yes, Ma'am." I told her without hesitation.

"Good, go ahead, I will loot the corpses," With that, Maria turned ad removed all the jewellery from the woman before moving onto her clothes. She looked briefly at the man before just removing his ring. I picked up the gun and fired at the bodies before moving to shoot the corpse of the slave. We then worked to set the horses free. They smelt terrible, and we both wrinkled our nose at the smell. When that was done, Maria turned to look at me, smirking smugly.

"I made a good choice, choosing to turn you." She informed me. I shrugged. "You have a mind that learns quickly and thinks for itself. The other newborns aren't like that. They are beasts, thinking only about their own pleasure and thinking straight forward." She continued, I remained silent. "And you are a lot more disciplined than them. Even trying to go for longer without blood. I am proud of you for trying, but it is better for you if you don't try to do that. It only causes more complication." Maria informed me.


	4. The Ship without a name

**Sorry for the delay, I needed some muse. And I found it in two places.**

**First, I would like to thank TexasHomeSlice; your review really gave me the extra push to the start and gave something to the chapter. I have to agree about Bella, she bores me and Jasper is definitely the best in my opinion.**

**Secondly, my other muse has been the Nightwish song The Islander, which gave cause for me to start exploring the characters in more detail and figure out what they were trying to tell me.**

**I Hope you enjoy this.**

**Chapter Four**

I watched as the newborns trained, looking for any weaknesses in them. Already we had twenty-three, which was larger than most, I presumed from what I had heard from Maria. Based on what I knew about newborns and how volatile they are I guessed that we should launch the attack Maria was planning very soon. Any additions might disrupt what we had already built and bring the group's number down. I stared at the group, and I saw one of the newborns falter. Quickly, I stepped in.

"You placed a foot wrong." I told him as he tripped and the other vampire easily got him to the ground.

"Release!" I growled at the newborn who had won this battle. He let go and backed away.

"You attacked well," I nodded at him "but I need to teach this one how to keep on his feet." I informed him.

"Yes, sir." he said. I indicated to the spare newborn. "Practise against him in the meantime." I ordered. The winner of this conflict gave a short nod before running over and preparing to training. Turning my attention to the looser I saw him shrink away.

"Look, you need be aware of everything, keep an eye on your surroundings. Otherwise you will trip." The bright eyes of the newborn stared back at me, this was a newcomer, one of the most recent to join us. "What is your age?"

"Thirty, I've been like this for two days sir." he said. Even the newcomers obeyed me and recognised me as above them. It was useful. Most importantly, though, they recognised Maria, Lucy and Nettie as being the commanders and someone that had to be obeyed on pain of death.

"So you are new to this form. You have a larger thought capacity now. You can be aware of more." I informed him. The soldier nodded.

"Try again, against me." I said.

He attacked and I easily side stepped his attack, but this time he didn't trip and he managed to turned to face me. But it was slightly too late and I grabbed his arm, slipping him over my back before turning and holding him down.

"Better; now train with the others." I said. I could feel the strength in that newborn, but Maria had given me some techniques that worked well against them. I had taught them a lot of my own techniques, but to keep them in control I had to be the best and I knew that Maria, Lucy and Nettie would easily be able to take me down; even one of them could do it. I guessed that probably one of them could take out me and probably even half of the newborns.

Watching the newborns practise I made sure that they appeared that they had had enough training. It looked like we were ready for the first proper attack. Were we would face our foes instead of our friends. "Rest." I told them and they quickly moved to the corners of the room to do as I had told them. Casting my gaze over them it appeared that everything would remain in order. Moving silently I hurried up the stairs and departed the basement. It was now time to look for Maria. Sniffing the air, I searched for a fresh trace of her scent as I moved through the house.

I could smell the scent of the three vampires who controlled this army, and it was easy for me to find the scent of Maria. Following the scent, I followed it upstairs, hurrying to find Maria. I found her, reading a book, but as soon as I came in, she looked up.

"Jasper, I hope you have some news for me." Smiled Maria.

"Yes, Ma'am. I believe that we have gathered up a large enough army that is sufficiently trained that we are ready to take on our foe." I replied.

"What are our numbers?" she questioned sharply.

"Twenty-three, Ma'am." I replied

"Twenty three, that is very large," Maria said thoughtfully. "But we can unleash them soon. Preferably tonight. I'll have to talk about this with Lucy and Nettie. We will need to go hunting, all of us. Even with our numbers its best if we have enough strength to carry it through." She mused.

I nodded at her words and her crimson eyes turned to stare at me.

"We will attack tonight after hunting. We will split up for hunting before we move to the fight. Jasper, I want you to be in my group, Lucy and Nettie will lead a third of the newborns each for hunting. Come, we must go now and tell them about the good news. Plus we must discus battle tactics." Maria said, getting up from her chair and leading me through the rooms in the house. Following without a word, my senses remained ready, in case of any danger, but also to help Maria find her two sisters. As we reached the main room, the scents of the two female vampires grew stronger, and I knew that the two had been in here for a while.

"Lucy, Nettie," Maria started as she opened the door. "I have good news; Jasper has informed me that the newborns will be ready to attack by tonight. Our numbers reach twenty-seven, including ourselves and Jasper," a gasp came from Lucy and Nettie, shocked that they could achieve such numbers without having to turn a lot more humans. However, the surprise soon faded away into calmness as I remained calm. "Tonight, as soon as dusk falls we will take the newborns out hunting over what land we have. Then, we shall launch our attack!" grinned Maria.

"That is amazing, Maria. Your plan really is effective!" Lucy smiled.

"Shall we sort out who takes which newborns and where?" asked Nettie.

Well, we will have two groups of eight and one group of seven. I'll take the seven and Jasper." Maria said. I remained silent as they spoke. After sorting out who got which newborns they moved onto tactics. They planned to keep the groups and go in from three different directions. I looked at the paper which they were drawing on with a frown. I could see a different way.

"Soldier, speak. What is on your mind?" asked Lucy.

"I think that it would be better if we have two parties behind the coven, and closer to each other. Then from the front we have two groups spread out. If we make the front two just a bit larger than the back two, then we can force them to retreat, if only a little. The back comes into play and we bring the groups into a circle around them, cutting off their exit." I said, looking at the vampires. Nettie stared at me in wonder and shock, Maria looked pleased.

"You chose well with this one, Maria." Lucy said after the silence.

"Indeed I did." Maria muttered, her crimson gaze resting on me. I was used to not being seen as an equal by now. I was no more than a horse to a rider. It had been similar when I was a human soldier to this, but no, perhaps my worth had gone down. As a human I was entitled to pay, leave to see my family, which I had never been able to take. Now it was my skills that kept me alive and in the running. I remember once wondering if they could sell soldiers for blood, like how horses were sold for money. But later another analogy came to me. I had forgotten about my many slaves when I was human. I was more like them. And I was glad that I never questioned Maria, Lucy or Nettie, otherwise I would never have been true enough to the Confederacy.

"So, we are sticking to his plan, then?" asked Nettie, looking at Maria and Lucy, gesturing towards me.

"Yes, we will keep to his plan. It sounds like it is the best." Maria said, still studying me. I wondered what was on her mind, from what I could tell, her emotions were very mixed.

"I'll meet you all at dusk in the newborn training area, then." Lucy said, getting up. I bowed to her as she left the room, probably to learn something. Often, I saw Lucy reading books on foreign languages. I guessed it was something she had studied when she was human and found interesting.

At one time I remember considering talking to her in Latin, even though it was a dead language. I guessed from her appetite for knowledge and language it would be one that she would be able to easily speak, read or write. She probably came from a similar background as I as well. Otherwise she would have needed to start learning about reading the English language first. However, I knew my place, so I never asked the tallest vampire about her previous life and spoke to her in any language.

Nettie didn't spend much time studying; she was the one who spent more time out the house. From what I had gathered she had a hard time controlling her thirst. I could understand that, but even she could keep away from human blood longer than any of the newborns, including me. When she was in the house I often saw her painting, but they were never happy pictures. Instead they were scenes from battles. I often saw reoccurring characters, which must have been her previous coven. I saw two males and herself as the only main reoccurring characters, although she did have some enemies that made more than one appearance. Often they had many newborns. I guessed she missed the days when she had much more territory.

The one I knew least about was Maria, and she was the one in charge, who had rounded the others up. She would read, she would sow, she would hunt, she would bring back newborns, and she would draw. There was nothing that ever gave me a clue to her. Like a ghost without a name. There was nothing that I could tell from the snippets that I saw of her. The most I could gather was that she was from Mexico. It would have been interesting if I could knew more about her, but it wasn't my place to question her or inquire to what her life had been like previously. Each of them had their own history, which they could hide if they wished.

It was then that Maria dismissed me from the room, giving me the order to inform the other newborns about what was going to happen. Disappearing from that room and the two vampires who remained there, I hurried to the basement and into the newborn training room. Eyes turned to look at me, I could feel some guilt. Glancing around quickly, I saw one of the newborns, the newest one, in pieces and some of the others searching for matches, I was glad that I had confiscated them, although some always managed to find some. It was an effort to keep them all away from death. Snarling, the newborns backed away from the body and I hurriedly stuck the newborn back together, not that he would probably survive the oncoming battle. Once he was together he grinned sheepishly at me before running off into a corner and glaring warily around at everyone.

Hearing the sound of movement I spun around and caught a newborn by surprise who had been trying to sneak up on me. I flipped him over and he only just managed to make a graze of a bite mark on my arm. Ignoring the sensation of venom in my granite skin I held him against the floor and calmed myself down. Immediately I felt him go limp. Letting go, I turned to stare at the others.

"We have a bigger fight coming up," I announced, staring at the faces around me, which had come forward. "We need more blood and to gain that blood we have to fight off the enemy who have it. We can't fight each other when we have a bigger opponent to face." I told them. Watching I saw that a few remembered previous talks about more important fights. However, most appeared to have put it out of their minds to focus on the blood. "We will be hunting tonight, as soon as dusk hits. Then, we will move into the attack." I then started to list off the hunting groups so everyone knew who would be with whom. It had finally sunk in and they began to pay more attention to the words I said.

Some started to pace, looking around the dark room, hoping that it meant dusk was here. Blood was the key to keeping the newborns in control and to making them pay attention. Even I was getting restless; I couldn't wait to taste blood even though it had only been two days since I had last hunted. Most others had waited longer for this opportunity. Finally, Maria came down, followed by Lucy and Nettie, I moved to stand in front of the newborns, making sure it was obvious that the only females in the room where the ones in control. Quickly, they listed off the attack groups; I was the leader of a group, which surprised me. Group 2, it was our job to follow the attack made by Group 1, Maria's group. I hoped Maria could sense that everyone was eager to get started so we could drink, because it was getting harder and harder for me to think of anything else but blood. My thoughts about it just intensified as they intensified the thirst and I was stuck in a cycle that just caused me to start becoming insane with thirst. I was sure the other newborns were feeling this way as well.

Finally, Maria was finished as we split into our different groups. For once the newborns worked flawlessly, moving quickly with no questions asked. Probably because blood was involved. The groups split up, leaving the house in different directions, Group two taking the back door, Group three going along the roof and Maria leading us out the front door. From there we headed eastwards before coming to a town. Maria looked at me and then assessed the newborns. Splitting the group, she sent half of us, including me into the town to hunt. Moving like a ghost, remaining in the shadows, I disappeared and started searching for something to drink. Following a fresh scent of blood I saw a woman coughing. She didn't look very well, nor smell well. She would die anyway.

I moved down the alley towards her, quickly. Her eyes widen but her scream was too late as I bite into her skin and started to drain the body of blood. That beautiful, delicious blood. Even now after months of existence like this I couldn't control my shivers of delight as the beautiful liquid flowed into my parched throat, easing the burn so it was more bearable. Closing my eyes in bliss I continued to drink until there was no blood left. Throwing her corpse onto the ground I ran my eyes critically over the area. It would look like she had died from natural causes, no problems would arise. Leaping away and onto the roof tops, I quickly made a survey of the town, glad that all the newborns had tided up their kills.

Moving back to Maria I informed her that all the kills would not be noticed and we moved onto another town. This time I stayed behind, in charge of the newborns who had last hunted. Thankfully they remained quiet, thinking about the upcoming battle, probably. It was near midnight when all of our groups had hunted and assembled back together. I looked at the place we were to take, Monterrey, capital of the north eastern state of Mexico. Maria nodded to Lucy and Nettie and the two circled around the city. Then, we started to move in, tracking the scents of the vampires.

We were like ghosts to each other, nothing but shadows and pale figures that moved with no sound. I kept track on Maria's group, to make sure that we were in synchronization. Suddenly, a wave of fresh vampire scent hit my nostrils. Maria's group was right next to mine and we stood beside a magnificent house. I looked at Maria and she nodded with her head to one of the windows. Moving, I smashed it open, as Maria smashed another window on the opposite side open. Leaping in, the newborns following us, we silently ran towards the nearest group of vampires. They were two vampires, a male and a female. One immediately left for the newborns while the other retreated backwards. Lucy's group caught him and in seconds he was ripped into pieces. The female gasped in horror as she unleashed only nine newborns on us. Nettie's group ran in and the woman was terrified, but Maria got to her. There weren't enough vampires around for all of us. I found myself having to share an opponent with one other vampire. It was too easy. I received no wounds from this, although my companion got a large bite on his soldier. Another newborn, an opponent ran towards the exit. I caught him and he wildly turned to bite me, his teeth reaching my brow in his wild attack. It wasn't long before that one was ripped into many pieces. I turned to look for another vampire to kill, but there was none. A few piles of fire stood around and I tossed the newborn I had just killed into one of them. The other was already burned. Counting the heads, I noticed that we had lost four. The newest one, one of the oldest, and more cocky and two roughly in the middle.

Maria came up to me, no more scars added to her body, unlike all the newborns, including myself. Lucy and Nettie had also managed to escape any scarring. I could tell that Maria was extremely happy and she seemed to have more territory already in mind. "Well down, Jasper. This has been an interesting battle; I don't believe any battle has ever been won so…easily. We hardly lost anyone." She grinned, I nodded at her words and she grinned, clearly high on victory.

"Come with me, Jasper." She told me, grabbing my hand, giving me very little choice in the matter. I would have followed her, anyway. I had to follow her orders. Leading me out into the darkness, out of Monterrey, Maria turned to stare at me. I realised that she wasn't as high on victory as she had seemed. Why had she had the pretence, then? I awaited her words, realising that now I felt incredibly nervous.

**Thank you for reading! **

**I thought I might leave it on a little bit of a cliff hanger. I will try to update as soon as possible.**

**As you know, I do not own Twilight, or any of the characters.**

**Please comment/review.**


	5. Mistrust

**Here's the latest update. Not too much action. I just know Maria's plotting something.**

**Don't be afraid to suggest your ideas to the story. **

**Constructive criticism is also welcome.**

**I Hope you enjoy this.**

**Have a nice day!**

**Chapter Five**

* * *

I watched as Maria's eyes rested on me, assessing me. I wondered if I had displeased her in some way. Her eyes moved across my body, mainly staring at the scars. Remaining frozen, I made no movements; this could be my final moments seeing as I might no longer be useful. Moving forwards, slowly, her hands roughly grabbed on shoulders, as if she were going to rip my arms from me.

"You don't defend yourself, soldier, why?" she questioned, her voice sharp.

"I do not need to. You are in charge; I have to follow your orders." I replied.

"Why?" she questioned again, harshly.

"When I was human, I had slaves. They were to obey me without question. I joined the Confederacy to keep that tradition. I am now in the same place as them. I must remain true to my ideas." I told her. Maria didn't seem impressed.

"So you don't fear me?" she asked.

"I respect you, Ma'am. You are in charge and I will follow your orders."

"You questioned our plans." Maria pointed out.

"I saw a better route. I did not question, Lucy asked what I thought and I answered with what I had seen."

"Fear me," Maria muttered, standing up on her toes, moving her mouth to my neck. My body stiffened and her teeth sank into my neck. Pain erupted and I gasped. This was nothing like the pain I had felt from the other newborns. Maria knew exactly where to sink her teeth into my flesh, how to cause the most pain. I felt her teeth pulling the flesh away from the rest of my body, slowly, and it was an effort to stand still and not to try and escape.

Angrily, Maria let go of my neck and grabbed my wrists, staring at them. Suddenly, she moved forwards, and sank her teeth into where the vein used to be. Even more pain exploded in my body and I tried to get away this time. But it just caused more pain to lash up my arm. I held my voice, refusing to scream or snarl. I couldn't show any sign of the pain. Maria hissed in anger and grabbed my other arm, giving my wrist the same treatment. It hurt almost as much as the transformation. Somehow, Maria managed to twist my harm, while her teeth were still stuck in me, causing fire to erupt across my stone cold flesh. Biting my lip, I started doing the maths again. It wasn't working. For a split second I squirmed, trying to get away once again, but Maria just bit further into me.

After deciding my wrists had had enough, Maria looked at my eyes. "Do you fear me now?" she asked, her voice harsh as her eyes stared at me. I knew that if she wanted, Maria could push it a lot further, and easily kill me.

"Yes, Ma'am." I said, trying to keep my tone even, even though I was supposed to be fearing her. My eyes refused to meet hers. Maria looked at me, standing perfectly still.

"Yes, I believe you do, soldier." She told me. "You have done well. Go hunt then return to our new headquarters. Also check the boundaries of the territories." Her voice was cold and uncaring and I wondered what I had done to irritate her. Surely it couldn't just be not fearing her. I knew the new headquarters would be the house we had just taken. The boundaries would be this new territory and the old one together.

I nodded and left, quickly running back to the old territories. Moving along the borders I didn't see any sign of anyone trying to enter the area. I was now coming to the edge of the old border. I hadn't been this far out since I'd become a vampire and suddenly I recognised some the surroundings. My eyes nervously flickered towards the entrance path to a large house. I stopped and stared at the house and felt a strange longing to go and visit the home. It was where I had lived before I had become this… a vampire. I could see the three story house with an attic. My new eyes could make out the room which had belonged to my sister. She was sitting by the window as she often did. But instead of reading a book she seemed to be crying.

It had been a while since I had seen her cry, she was usually stronger than this and I wondered what had caused her to be like that. Moving away from the path and slowly creeping closer to the wall, I looked over the high brick wall, keeping my senses open. The smell of blood hit me, but it wasn't too fresh. However the burn started and I knew I would be hunting later. My eyes flickered towards the huts were the slaves lived. They were empty but so were the fields. Just then, I heard the sound of a voice speaking on the other side of the house. It was the sound of my father speaking. And quietly next to that sound was the sound of crying, my mother. And heartbeats surrounding it all, so many heartbeats. The slaves.

"_Jasper was a brave man who wanted to do the best for his country, even if it meant leaving his home to fight. Yet war was not his passion, he was a great scholar, who paid attention in all his lessons and excelled. My son had so much more to offer to the world, but he gave his life in a cause he believed in. My only wish is that I could have apologised for pushing him into duties at too young an age." _I heard the voice and felt a strange emotion. I wanted to comfort my father, but that was only my mind. My whole body ached to kill and slaughter what had once been my family.

"_Sir, may I add somethin'?" _asked a voice. I recognised the voice as one of the slaves.

"_Go ahead."_ My father said, his voice thick with emotion.

"_Master Jasper was a good owner. He was kind and rarely beat us."_ I blinked. I hadn't expected that from any of the slaves. Rarely beating them? I was sure I could remember plenty of times I had done that. But it hadn't been as much as my father or any of the others in charge of the slaves. But I had spent less time with them. And they obeyed me more easily. Just like how the newborns did.

Glancing once up at the room of my sister I noticed that the window as open so she could hear the speech. Turning, I raced away. I needed to escape that. There was no place for sentiment in my new life. I couldn't feel sorrow of them. I didn't care what they thought, I wasn't allowed to. They didn't mean anything. They were just blood. I find my body shaking at the idea that a vampire might drain any one of them and horror creep upon me as I realised that it could be me who killed them. Propelling myself forward I tried to get away as quickly as possible. I couldn't linger on these thoughts or being so close to them. I had to escape from that past. It was too full of emotion and blood.

At the thought of blood I turned to find the nearest place I'd be able to hunt. My throat ached once more and my thoughts remained stuck on blood. Why couldn't there be a nice battle somewhere where I could feast easily on the multitude of dying humans. A tremor ran through me as I thought about the delight of the blood running down my throat. I wanted to, I needed it. I craved it. No longer could I think of my family, I knew if I came across any of them they would be dead. I would drain the life out of them easily and be done with it. I wanted to drink! I knew my crimson eyes would be flickering around the surroundings, restlessly. A small scouting party would do. Or a lone rider. There had to be somebody I could snack on.

Finally, I found somewhere that looked promising. Slowing down, I peaked at the human blood I had found. It wouldn't matter who or what they were. Confederate or Union, adult or child, it meant nothing to me. I was in luck, though, it was a small scout party of Unions trying to see if they could find a good place to stage a battle. They would never finish their mission. Leaping forwards I broke the neck of one of them and crashed in the skull of another. One was about to shoot but I broke his gun and sank my teeth into his soft flesh. The blood flowed into my mouth and throat and I could relax and forget about all the pain that had been lancing through me. When his corpse was finished I moved onto their person with the bashed in skull. His blood was going cold so I drank it hurriedly. Cold blood wasn't as nice as warm and fresh blood. Amazingly the person with a broken neck was just clinging to life. I quickly tore that from him as well, until I was standing, surrounded by a pile of bodies.

Now that I was full of blood I could start to concentrate. Turning my wrists over I looked at the scars Maria had given me. They were larger and more prominent than any of the others but at least they weren't hurting any more, just stinging. The bite on my neck was also stinging, but it didn't hurt as much. Moving my hand, I lightly felt the scar. It almost seemed swollen because of the way Maria had bitten it and I moved the slightly loose section so it was more in place. The pain flared up for a second before it started to correct itself. Licking my lips, wiping away the taste of blood I considered heading back. There was nothing else to do; I had completed Maria's orders, all except heading back to our new base.

Stepping past the bodies, I looked at the massacre. It would look like the Unions had been caught unawares. I had managed to make my bite marks look like damage from a sword or gun. The smashed in skull worked with the but of a gun hitting his head and a broken spine wasn't unheard of in battle. Leaving the area I hurried back towards the new base, I could see dawn and it was surprising that my father had held a funeral of sorts for me so early. But then again, we had been an early family, but I had more expected an afternoon. Then, I remembered mother telling me that I had been born in the morning. I was now in Monterrey and it wasn't long before I was back where the battle had taken place. Everything looked ordered and Maria waited for me.

"Well done, soldier. You may attend to studies or training newborns." She told me, before heading off to hunt. I watched her leave and again wondered what had caused such a change in her.

"She's like that," came a voice, I recognised it was the voice of Lucy. "She'd not often very nice. She tries to remain polite with us, we are meant to be equals. And you have seen how cruel she is normally to newborns. Even with those scars you can consider yourself to be a favourite of hers." Lucy smiled wryly.

"It is not in my orders to question her orders or actions in any way." I replied, my voice firm.

"No, I suppose it isn't. And that's why she questions you, soldier. A newborn who obeys orders for no reason. She doesn't full see how much the bloodlust affects you and what you would do for it and yet she also doesn't understand why someone would obey her out of loyalty. She also has recently lost her mate," Lucy's face grew hard at the mention of a mate and Jasper knew that there was a lot more to the three leaders of this army. "That is not something we easily forgive."

"I am sorry if I appeared to question her." I apologised, not exactly sure why I was being given this talk. Why would I need to know the reasons behind Maria's actions? If she wanted to be feared surely that was enough reason for her to bite me.

"You put up a good fight today, don't think that none of us saw it. Good behaviour and fighting is rewarded. You got your hunt, but Maria believes your unswerving loyalty as something that needs to be punished because she doesn't trust. Some believe that you need to reign without loyalty just power. Maria and the Volturi share that thought, keep it in mind, newborn." Lucy said. She knew my name, but she never used it. I guessed that was because I wouldn't be able to rise as high as she was. I would never control an army like her. I would never have the strength to resist human blood as much as she did. I did not deserve their power.

"Go now and do what Maria told you to do." Lucy said, with a small smile, it almost seemed like friendship, but more likely it was a smile because Maria's words were always final, no choice about it.

Nodding, I decided that I would read. Moving up the stairs, I searched for a book. It had been a long time since I had been allowed to read a book, a long time since I had the time to read a book. I missed that freedom and the knowledge. A book offered comfort, something I had lost from my family. After finding the _Iliad_ I settled down to read it. It was something I had read as a human, but there was no harm in rereading the classics. Settling down, I started reading about Achilles and the Greek Gods, the battle of Troy and all that Homer had written.

After a while of reading I heard a door open downstairs, Maria was returning. Glancing up from the book I saw Lucy pausing in her reading before continuing. Footsteps moved along the stairs and Maria entered the room.

"Hello Lucy," she said, her voice was pleasant. "Jasper, I would like a word with you." She said, her voice now cold. I nodded and got up, placing my book down. Maria led me through several more rooms and eventually she stopped.

"I followed your scent trail. You came across your human house, didn't you?" Maria asked.

"Yes, Ma'am." I told her, my voice showing no emotion but I could feel some worry stir in me. Had Maria turned any of them or killed?

"It's okay, soldier, I did not interfere with any of them. I just noticed your scent near there. Did you realise it was your human birthday?" she asked.

"No Ma'am." I replied. Was it? I had never realised that.

"They had decided that you were dead and were holding your funeral on your birthday." She informed me, I wondered if there was some intent behind it. There didn't appear to be any. "That'll be all, soldier. I would prefer it if you attend the rest of the newborns, now." She said, her voice cold and uninterested.

"Yes, Ma'am." I said, moving towards the stairs.

"Oh, and Jasper, try not to kill anyone." She said. I looked at her for a second before moving downstairs. Did she mean not to kill any newborn or to avoid killing my family?

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